Intel isn't wasting any time getting its most advanced processors into the machines that power one of the company's most reliable customer bases, announcing Thursday that new 14-nanometer "Broadwell" chips with vPro enhancements are now shipping to makers of business-class PCs.

Late last year, Intel rolled out its first 14nm Broadwell parts, now designated as 5th-generation Core processors, with the release of the Core M line of low-voltage chips aimed at a new breed of fanless, x86-based ultrathin laptops, 2-in-1s, and high-end tablets.

At the Consumer Electronics Show just a few weeks ago, the company further clarified its plans for Broadwell in 2015, showcasing a more powerful range of processors built for traditional desktops and laptops. Whereas the newly minted Core M line was designed to fudge the difference between a cool-running x86 chip and the usual ARM part you'd build into a tablet or thin 2-in-1, the full range of the Broadwell line includes Core i5 and Core i7 workhorses that nobody's ever going to mistake for a Snapdragon.

So where does vProbasically, a fortified version of an Intel consumer processor which has added layers of security and remote management tools baked in fit into all of this? Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates, noted that Intel is really emphasizing the wireless capabilities of its next-gen hardware platform as it pitches the enterprise version of Broadwell.

"One of the big take-aways for me was Intel's new push to make everything connect wirelessly. Pro WiDi and wireless docking is a next leap to make things sleeker and more secure for connectivity," Gold said. "And if it takes hold, it means they can effectively eliminate virtually all connectors on the device to make it even thinner and sleeker. That would be a pretty big change in the workplace going forward. Of course, it would also require wireless charging, but that is coming soon as well."

Tom Garrison, vice president and general manager of Intel's Business Client Platforms, painted the new Broadwell-based vPro chips as a golden ticket for tidy, hassle-free, mobile computing in the modern workplace.

"Our goal is to enable all users to simply work better by offsetting the growing challenges of today's businesses. With new devices based on 5th-generation Intel Core vPro processors, we aim to transform the user experience by helping them compute from virtually anywhere without the clutter and burden of wires," Garrison said.

As a part of 2015's 5th-generation Core product introduction, vPro was always along for the ride, but for market watchers, it wasn't entirely clear when Intel's line of enhanced business-targeted chips would become part of the greater Broadwell rollout. In recent years, corporate buyers have held onto hardware longer and tried to stretch upgrade cycles further than suppliers like Intel would prefer, untethering the commercial refresh strategy from consumer-targeted planning and making roadmap planning more difficult.

By pulling in its Broadwell vPro launch ahead of even the curtain-raising on the next Core i7 Extreme Editionwhich will probably happen next month at the Game Developer Conference in San FranciscoIntel is sending a strong signal that it believes the corporate IT market is ready to buy new computers.

That's news in and of itself and Gold attributed Intel's bullishness on the eagerness of corporate buyers to refresh vPro hardware to the belated discovery by commercial customers of the usefulness of the technology itself.

"In the past, vPro was licensed, or companies bought vPro-ready machines, but not a lot of devices were turned on," the analyst said. "The newer-generation management teams are doing a much better job of taking advantage of vPro, which has improved from a usability, manageability, and IT perspective over the past two years. If Intel is seeing companies turn on tens of thousands, as they report, or in some cases they are saying hundreds of thousands of devices are being turned on [to use vPro capabilities], then that is a big deal."

Damon Poeter got his start in journalism working for the English-language daily newspaper The Nation in Bangkok, Thailand. He covered everything from local news to sports and entertainment before settling on technology in the mid-2000s. Prior to joining PCMag, Damon worked at CRN and the Gilroy Dispatch. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle and Japan Times, among other newspapers and periodicals.
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